Barter and Money in an Indonesian Village Economy

This article takes a historical approach to barter in Lamalera, Indonesia, and argues that there are intrinsic connexions between barter and other modes of exchange. Until this century life in Lamalera was subject to threats of hunger, theft, slavery, warfare and attacks from pirates. These real factors affected the way forms of exchange were embedded in social values. Today, Lamalera is much changed by modern circumstances, but barter remains central to day-to-day subsistence. Various means and standards for interrelating values of goods and services are common to different types of exchange, including barter. Because barter is connected to other exchange types and related to a common background of risk its empirical form does not match a definition of pure barter.